Skip links

Header Right

Chapter 16

Translation

Devote effort to emptiness, sincerely watch stillness.
Everything ‘out there’ rises up together, and I watch again.
Everything ‘out there’, one and all, return again to their root cause.
Returning to the root cause is called stillness, this means answering to one’s destiny;
Answering to one’s destiny is called the constant, knowing the constant is called honest.
Not knowing the constant, rash actions lead to ominous results.
Knowing the constant allows, allowing therefore impartial,
Impartial therefore whole, whole therefore natural,
Natural therefore the way.
The way therefore long enduring, nearly rising beyond oneself.

Third Pass: Chapter of the Month11/30/2017

Corrections?

Reflections:

Today I noticed a practical way to think about the constant that fits right in with this chapter. This is important because the Chinese character translated only as constant easily implies something extraordinary about the word constant. For example, if nothing else, eternity is constant — ‘God’ is constant. This doesn’t do much to bring it down to a practical level does it? That is why it helps to ponder this character’s broader meanings.

In terms of real practical life, the constant need for watchfulness is priority Number one, especially in the wild. If an animal doesn’t keep constant watch, it easily becomes another animal’s lunch. In this context, other meanings for the character (常cháng) fit too: An ordinary wild animal is normally watchful, as observation will attest. Of course, this need for constant watchfulness is less noticeable in civilized circumstances since civilization does all it can to ensure comfort and security regardless of our ‘presence’, so to speak. We can walk around in a dream world and not worry about becoming lunch. Nevertheless, instinctive necessity is there, and balance suffers if not met.

Take line 6: Not knowing the constant, rash actions lead to ominous results. If you drive fast without constant vigilance, rash actions are likely to result. If you do a headstand in yoga, constant watchfulness allows you to maintain balance and avoid injury.

The next line says, Knowing the constant allows, allowing therefore impartial. Balance and impartial share a very similar quality, e.g., a balance point of view is impartial. Impartiality also involves a deep sense of before and after. This helps reduce our imagination’s control on intention. Our cognitive projections (ideals) grip us less firmly. Simply put, feeling the constant dampens the need to react impulsively to our imagined needs and fears. For contrast, notice how a bird will perch, watch and wait until it flies away. It stays or moves in the constant moment. Such stillness in ‘watching and waiting’ is ordinary; common; normal; constant; invariable; frequently; often; usually. In short, you might say the constant is simply now — the constant mundane eternal now.

To be fair, I must address the character for impartial ( 公 gōng). Gōng is also an extremely common word that translates as: public; collective; common; general; metric; make; public; equitable; impartial; fair; just; public affairs.

All this goes to show how essential intuitive understanding is, especially when pondering the Tao Te Ching. (See We only understand what we already know). Finally, consider the last lines in the context of constant watchfulness.

I find the more watchful I am moment-to-moment, the less “I” get in the way of being natural. Interestingly, this has a parallel in Christ’s teachings, even if he expressed it a lot more ‘folksy’, i.e., you need to speak in the language you audience can understand.

“Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your Lord does come. But know this, that if the manager of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up”. Matthew 24:42.

“Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”. Matthew 26:41.

“Take you heed, watch and pray: for you know not when the time is”. Mark 13:33.

“Watch you therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man”. Luke 21:36.

Now notice how the first lines of this chapter directly reference the importance of watchfulness.

Devote effort to emptiness, sincerely watch stillness.
Everything ‘out there’ rises up together, and I watch again.
Everything ‘out there’, one and all, return again to their root cause.
Returning to the root cause is called stillness;
this means answering to one’s destiny.
Answering to one’s destiny is called the constant;
knowing the constant is called honest.

Patience

Finally, I’d sum up this whole chapter as a description of true patience. By that, I mean not forced from outside forces, but a visceral easing off the gas pedal of life. Long ago, I found that when I got to the end of my current run at living, I’d sit down, do absolutely nothing, and patiently wait it out. I had no choice other than to embrace emptiness. My mind and body were out of steam. Curiously, I noticed that before long, even within a day, I’d be rejuvenated and ready to make another run at living life to the fullest.

(Note: As a child, crashing and feeling nausea for a few days was the only way I could bring about a ‘system reboot’, as it were. Fortunately, I’m able to reboot before getting to that point.)

Second Pass: Work in Progress3/23/2013

Issues:

I just needed to repair some punctuation this time.

It probably wouldn’t hurt to look more closely at the last line of the chapter: The way therefore long enduring, nearly rising beyond oneself. The first part makes sense, but the last phrase probably feels a little obtuse on the face of it. The characters are: 没身不殆. Literally, it goes like this: rising beyond oneself nearly almost. Pondering this in terms of the illusion of self(1) may help — like ‘rising beyond ego’ if you like. Also, consider the words in a broader sense to further confuse and enlighten.

Commentary:

This is one of the most valuable chapters. Of course, I feel silly saying that because each is ‘most valuable’ in its own right. This one, although, goes to the heart of the human condition, and to the source of ominous results our species brings upon itself. Mind you, not that we ever knew the consequences of what we were doing, not back then in early Stone Age—not now!

We’ve followed the natural instinct to take every opportunity to increase our advantage. Every species does that; it’s the survival imperative of life itself. Our difficulty lies in being too clever for our own good. We have too much of a good thing, as they say. Yet, we really don’t accept that. Who can willingly cut off cleverness, discard advantage? That is virtually like suicide — ego suicide anyway.

We instinctively place ‘geniuses’, progress, intelligence, (etc) on the highest of pedestals. I’m not even sure we are capable, generally, of admitting to ourselves the imbalance our cleverness embodies. I find only by deep impartiality combined with clear reasoned observation can I begin to see the predicament we’re in. Even more sobering, I don’t see there is much we can do about this, other than see and accept. On the other hand, this sobriety helps generate a more balanced view of destiny. The resulting impartiality helps me become whole therefore natural.

I should add that if we were living under wilderness conditions, our rash actions would be both limited and balanced by nature’s wild side. The confusing and distracting effect of having many choices would be absent. If you wanted food, you’d have to find it, rather than innovate on choices (all the when, what, where, how, of eating). When it rained we simply get wet, rather than innovate on housing (all the when, where, what, how of housing). All the benefits of civilization mean we do have choices now, which brings us immense comfort and security compared with animals in the wild. The downside consequence of that is the suffering; rash actions lead to ominous results (war, bandits, torture, and whatever ills you see out there). It is a natural trade-off.

Returning to the root cause is called stillness, this means answering to one’s destiny. I suppose destiny is often thought to be about the future… our destination. Destiny is rooted in the past and expressed in the present moment. Knowing where you come from is the only way to know where you are now, and headed tomorrow. Going cross-country without the aid of a trail or a map demonstrates this principle nicely. If you only are feeling the present moment, and/or the future, you get lost. Only by have a sense of where you’ve been can you ‘find yourself’ in the present.

Suggested Revision:

Devote effort to emptiness, sincerely watch stillness.
Everything ‘out there’ rises up together, and I watch again.
Everything ‘out there’, one and all, return again to their root cause.
Returning to the root cause is called stillness;
… this means answering to one’s destiny.
Answering to one’s destiny is called the constant;
… knowing the constant is called honest.
Not knowing the constant, rash actions lead to ominous results.
Knowing the constant allows, allowing therefore impartial,
Impartial therefore whole, whole therefore natural,
Natural therefore the way.
The way therefore long enduring, nearly rising beyond oneself.

First Pass: Chapter of the Week03/07/2009

Today this chapter speaks to the experience of consciousness more directly than it ever has before (or so it feels like today). The constant feels like my mind’s mirror, its consciousness neither pulled or pushed by emotion. Returning to root causes is only temporary, for the emotional impact of everything ‘out there’, (the teaming, myriad creatures), waxes forth again soon enough. So, I enjoy it while I can!

Answering to one’s destiny is an odd concept perhaps, especially as we feel that time moves forward. This is nature’s greatest hoodwink. Turning back is how the way moves, but we are not biologically set up to feel that. Correlations allows us to peak into this. Consider these few:

ACTIVE

PASSIVE

energy

time

future

past

illusion

real

forward

behind

clear

obscure.

It appears that what we call ‘time’ is actually energy moving forward through time turning back. (It’s spooky enough to raise the hair on the back of one’s head.) Life insists we be forward looking and active, resisting entropy every moment of life. The bio-illusion (the innate, biology based hoodwink) that drives us moving forward is a visceral sense that we will become whole and fulfilled once we satiate our most pressing desire of the moment.

Devoting effort to emptiness and sincerely watching stillness doesn’t seem to lead forward and fulfill our desires. Our difficulty lies in not knowing that the way that leads forward seems to lead backward. And so we rush forward into the future thinking the answer must lie ‘out there’. Off balance, we feel even more desperate to make ‘everything out there’ fulfill our desires and make whole our destiny.

Simply said, we yearn for the constant yet pursue ‘everything out there‘, none of which are constant. i.e., The way that can be spoken of is not the constant way. The more we expect ‘out there‘ to be constant, the less content and more numerous our desires. Certainly, all life is driven by this emotional hoodwink. However, our superior thinking mind / brain turns this emotional hoodwink into an illusion which then feeds back upon emotion. We easily end up going around in circles… neurotic vicious circles!

The great image has no shape; the answer is the question. Yet we are compelled to nail down an answer. How can we ever feel secure when we settle for the answer that can be nailed down (named), or the image that has a shape? Impartiality is beyond reach as long as we impose a shape upon the constant. Never feeling secure in our destiny, we are then driven to hold even more tightly to ‘everything’, to ‘God’, or whatever else we name ‘it’.